"'Bizarro and Other Strange Manifestations of the Art of Dan Piraro'
is a retrospective of my life as an artist of various sorts. It inlcudes
a 10,000 word autobiographical essay as well as examples of my cartoons, fine
art, sketchbook art, early commercial art, and bits from my comedy shows.
It's being published by Abrams books and I must say they did a wonderful job.
It really does look good and I'm thrilled to report it's getting rave reviews."

Where can our visitors see your work?

"The best place is in your local newspaper, if they carry Bizarro. If
not, you can find myriad examples of my work on the web, as well as in the
14 books I've published. For a daily dose of what I'm doing, you can
subscribe to Daily Ink (dailyink.com) and get Bizarro in color 7 days a week,
all year long. It's about $15, less than a third of the cost of a single bottle
of good Tequila."

Are you vegan or vegetarian?

"Vegan, of course. As an avid opponent of cruelty to animals,
I would never buy anything with dairy products or eggs in them as the production
of these items involves a great deal of suffering. Virtually all veal
calves come from the dairy industry, even producers of so-called "free
range" and "organic" milk sell their male calves to the veal
industry. If you're eating/drinking something made from cow's milk,
it's because a calf chained in a box somewhere isn't."

How long have you been vegetarian/vegan?

"Four years."

Why did you become vegetarian/vegan?

"I visited a farm animal sanctuary one day and found out two things:
the realities of factory farming, and the fact that so-called "food"
animals are not just stupid eating machines that don't care if they live or
die, which is what I'd sort of been raised to believe. It took me one
day of exposure to the truth to become vegan and i've never regretted it for
a moment."

What benefits have you experienced since becoming veg*n?

"I was always prudent about my diet and exercised regularly, so I can't
report any dramatic changes in my health or weight, except that I used to regularly suffer from intestinal distress of various kinds: too fast or too slow. Since switching to a vegan diet, those problems are nonexistent. I have also enjoyed an
unexpected spiritual benefit to my new lifestyle. I now eat secure with
the knowledge that my health is not being damaged and nothing had to suffer
for the sake of my taste buds."

Are other members of your family vegan/vegetarian?

"My wife, and my two adult daughters are all vegan. My wife has
been one since she was a child, it was she who brought me to the farm animal
sanctuary. My daughters are as a result of what I've told them about
factory farming."

What do you think it will take to get more people to move to a plant-based
diet?

"Humans are such arrogant, selfish, ill-disciplined apes that I fear
we will never see a major shift to plant-based diets until there is a major
food-related crisis resulting in huge numbers of deaths. We already
have that with heart disease and cancer and it does nothing to deter the average
person. Sadly, I think it will take something indisputable and immediate,
like massive outbreaks of bird flu or mad cow."

What would you say to others to encourage them to become vegetarian/vegan?

"Look at your pets and realize that "food" animals are no
less affectionate, sentient, and emotional than your family dog. If
you wouldn't subsidize cruelty to him or her, don't support it with other
animals with your diet."

How and when did you first come up with the name "Bizarro"?

"21 years ago, when I was first offered a syndication contract, I came
up with a list of names to call my feature. Bizarro rhymes with my last name,
so it was chosen. Not a very fabulous story, I'm afraid."

In your career, what have been your favorite projects or roles (or comics)?

"I have a lot of favorite comics, too many to remember. One of
my favorite projects by far is my live comedy show, The Bizarro Baloney Show."

How much has your diet/lifestyle affected your comics?

"I always try to bring as much of myself and my perspective on life
to my cartoons as possible. So as soon as I learned about factory farming
I began to try to find ways to incorporate that info and those views into
my cartoons. It took a while, but I began to find a voice for it and have
developed it ever since. It was the comics I did on this subject that
drew me into the AR world. Various groups began contacting me saying,
effectively, "you're one of us!" With that came invitations
to speak at conferences and festivals, for groups, etc. and before I knew
it, I was a fixture of the movement."

When did you start including vegetarian/animal rights themes
in your comics? Do you believe this helps raise awareness of such issues
for your readers and fans?

"Throughout my career I've drawn comics criticizing hunting and clothing
made of fur. These seemed like direct 'cruelty for fun/vanity' issues.
I think because I was so heavily indoctrinated into meat-eating all my life,
the fact that my diet fell into the same category just didn't occur to me
until I learned about factory farming. The really hard-hitting cartoons
about animal rights didn't start until a few months after my conversion in
2002. It took me that long to find a way to make it funny and provocative
without being overly preachy. To my pleasant surprise, I have
heard from many readers over the years that have said that the info and cartoons
on my website have led them to rethink their lifestyle choices."

Do you include these themes in your stand-up acts?

"Yes. There's an entire section about animal rights in my comedy
shows. That, too, has been a learning process, which isn't over yet.
Finding ways to make people laugh and think, without being too preachy or
making them defensive, is difficult. I get better at it with each show."

If one of the actual "Three Little Pigs" was president, what
would the White House be made of and what would they serve in the dining
room?

"I published a political satire in 2004 called, The Three Little Pigs
Buy the White House in which the three pigs, Dicky, Rummy, and W, buy their
way into the White House. They take a country made of bricks, give the
bricks away to their rich friends and leave a country made of straw.
The Big Bad Wolf comes along and blows the country down. On the
last page of the book I apologize to "actual" pigs and wolves, who
are far less greedy and dangerous than humans."

Would you like to see more vegetarian or vegan characters on television and
in films and print media?

"Sure, but I'm not holding my breath. Very few mainstream performers,
producers, directors, or writers are willing to take chances presenting material
that may dampen their popularity."

What do you feel is your greatest accomplishment
in life?

"I hope I haven't made it yet, but I think my using my moderate fame
to disseminate information about kindness vs. cruelty is my most important
contribution to the planet thus far."

How important do you feel organic foods are in the diet?

"Extremely important. Toxins are what cause cancer. Animal
protein in its purest form is toxic to an herbivore, add to that the extra
crap that the food industry throws into our food supply, meat and veg, and
you've got the current cancer and heart disease rates that consume American
lives by the millions each year."

There has been a growing movement towards raw food diets. Do you try to incorporate much raw food into your diet?

"To be honest, raw food isn't as big an issue to me as veganism in general.
What really kills us is animal protein and pesticides. If I lose a little
nutrients here and there by warming my food, I'm not all that alarmed."

Do you have any pets?

"My wife, a full-time, freelance animal rights activist, and I foster
animals regularly, so we don't keep permanent animals in the house except
for two cats."

What are your feelings on vegan pet food?

"Cats are carnivores and have every right to eat meat. The downside
is that commercial cat food comes from factory farming, an industry we don't
want to support. As a compromise, we've found organic, raw cat foods
that our cats like and we feed them that. It's a bit of a compromise
and I suppose everyone has to come to their own decisions about what to feed
cats."

What are your favorite snacks?

"Crackers, salsa, dried fruit, almonds, peanuts."

What are your favorite foods/meals?

"Anything spicy."

Care to share a favorite recipe with our visitors?

"My wife is a fabulous cook and I haven't the foggiest idea how she
makes anything."

What is your favorite veg restaurant(s)?

"Millenium and Herbivore in SF, Candle 79 and Red Bamboo in NYC, Chicago Diner in Chicago."

"Heather Mills McCartney and Alec Baldwin are awesome because they aren't afraid
to use their celebrity to speak up. Two of my favorite speakers are
Michael Gregor and John McDougall."

How do you feel worldwide veganism would affect our planet?

"Obviously many things would improve. Less pollution and less starvation
spring to mind, not to mention the fact that billions of animals each year
would not be tortured to death."

What are your thoughts on charities such as cancer organizations that do not
promote a plant-based diet and even include animal products at their functions?

"This is clear and screaming evidence of the idiocy of the human race.
I can't state that strongly enough. For cancer and heart disease organizations to recommend that people 'reduce' their consumption of red meat but not switch to a vegan diet is like telling lung cancer patients to 'reduce' the number of cigarettes they smoke. Can you imagine Mothers Against Drunk Driving encouraging people to drive drunk less often?"

Anything else you'd like to share with our visitors?

"I don't mean to be overly commercial, but my new book, Bizarro and
Other Strange Manifestations of the Art of Dan Piraro, which is a retrospective
of my career, includes a large chapter and essay about my animal rights beliefs.
The majority of the book is my artwork--cartoons, fine art, sketchbook art,
bits from my comedy shows--and it's my hope that because it will appeal to
a wide variety of readers, it will expose innumerable people to animal rights
issues who might not otherwise have the benefit of this information. This is an excellent gift
for someone in your life that you don't want to approach directly with animal
rights or veganism. I've already heard from a number of people who have changed
their diets after reading it."

I have to say, it's a great book! Every fan should have
a copy! Where should our visitors buy your book?